“My daughter was a teacher for a few years in a suburban school and she tells me that it is impossible to teach the Somalis because of the language barrier. They are basically smart kids, but cannot be taught in the traditional public school setting.”
Basically smart kids will pick up the local language by being immersed in it. Previous generations of immigrants from Italy, Germany etc. did not need bilingual education for their kids to learn English.
Can’t argue your point. Maybe they are not being immersed in the language because the families are isolating themselves. I don’t think all Germans and Italians immediately learned the language immediately either.